Page 27 of The Temp

My eyes skim around the houses, to the milieu of Linda gagging and Zelda’s muffled whimpering. Ian and Janette’s garden resembles a building site. Zelda said they moved into temporary accommodation while their house is being renovated and, thank goodness, they’re in the middle of rewiring the house, so all their security gadgets have been disabled.

Killing my phone torch. I tiptoe along the green, feeling the dew of the grass between my toes. In my haste to get here, I put on the first thing I could find at the front door, a pair of Georgia’s leopard print flip-flops. Good job we’re both a size six. I peek over the hedge – two fences are broken on the other side and there are ladders strewn on the gravel, one propped up against the house, there’s an orange digger and abandoned tools. My eyes slide to a huge excavation at the back of the house, floodlit by the moonlight, revealing exposed pipes. Zelda said something about a basement. I presume that’ll be it.

I survey the scene like a detective. Lillian’s house, on the other side, is lit up, but Zelda said she’s away for the weekend. It must be a security timer. The flat upstairs is in darkness. Silvanna and Giovanni have gone back to Italy, which is a blessing because they’d have seen and heard everything. I look for CCTV cameras but see nothing. Zelda’s garden isn’t overlooked. Tall conifers line the back fence and the lawn backs onto a lake and gardens. No one could have seen or heard a thing. We’re safe.

‘Oh, my God. I’m a murderer.’

I spin around, breath ragged. Zelda is standing over Frank’s body, quivering. ‘Keep your voice down,’ I hiss, rushing up to her and snatching her by the hand. ‘Let’s go back in and discuss it.’

‘Shouldn’t we call for an ambulance?’ Linda suggests frantically, trying to keep up with us as I march Zelda along the patio.

‘It’s too late for that.’ I step back and flick a finger out. ‘Get inside.’

Chapter 24

The deafening silence at the kitchen table is punctuated by Zelda’s hiccupy sobs, the hoot of an owl and the gekkering of foxes.

‘We need to call the police,’ Linda insists. ‘God, my mouth is so dry.’ Getting to her feet, she snatches a glass off the drying rail and fills it with tap water.

‘They’ll lock me up,’ Zelda murmurs tearfully. ‘I’ll be an old woman before I’m released.’

‘Not if you explain that you acted in self-defence,’ Linda claims, sitting back down, glass in hand. ‘We’ll get you a good barrister. Theo’s cousin Andrea is…’

But Zelda shakes her head to and fro, to and fro. ‘Bella, please don’t call the police. I’ll die in prison.’

‘It’ll be manslaughter,’ Linda explains. ‘You might not even go to prison.’

Zelda uses her hands as earmuffs, rocking back and forth in her chair. ‘They won’t believe me. Please, Bella, don’t call them. How will it look when they dig up my file?’ I bite the flesh inside my bottom lip, that thought did occur to me, too.

‘We can’t just leave him there,’ Linda says to me firmly. ‘Look, if we don’t call the emergency services it’ll be conspiracy to murder, you do realise that, don’t you?’ Silence. ‘Right, I’m ringing them now.’ Linda’s hand disappears into her handbag.

Leaping to her feet, Zelda grabs Linda’s arm with both hands. ‘No, don’t,’ she cries, wrestling her for the handset. ‘If you do, I’ll kill myself. I mean it.’

I comb my hands through my hair as they continue to squabble, their voices growing louder and louder and louder, and then, ‘Oh, just shut the fuck up and let me think.’

The room falls silent. All I can hear is the thump, thump, thump of my racing heart. This morning I didn’t think my life could get any worse, but what happened with Liam pales into insignificance compared to this. Zelda has killed a man, albeit in self-defence. Her fiancé of a few hours. My ex-fitness instructor. Linda’s one-night stand. We’re all connected to him in some way. Linda’s right, we can’t just leave him there. We will have to call the police, but I can’t relay this to Zelda, not while she’s like this.

‘Can’t we get rid of the body?’ Zelda asks. ‘I saw a thriller on TV where…’

‘Are you out of your mind?’ Linda yells. ‘We’ll all go to prison once they dig him up from your garden. Our DNA is all over him.’

‘We were all at a party with him,’ I offer. ‘He’s bound to have our DNA on him. The police won’t question that.’

Linda’s eyes have become like discs. ‘You can’t be serious?’

A beat and then. ‘No, no, of course not. We’re not going to bury him.’ I drum my fingers against the table, filling the silence. ‘Did Theo turn up?’ I ask, hoping a change of subject might calm Linda down.

Linda shakes her head. ‘I’ve no idea where he’s gone. He just stormed off. He’ll probably sleep it off at his sister’s and come home tomorrow.’

‘Zelda,’ I say gently. Zelda’s head shoots up, eyes round. ‘How did this happen?’

‘I told you on the phone,’ she says, annoyed.

‘Tell me again, from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out. We need to get our stories straight.’ Zelda looks from me to Linda, and Linda nods reassuringly, drops her phone back into her handbag and tells her that we’ll look after her, no matter what.

Zelda takes a deep breath. ‘We came home, and he went upstairs and locked himself in the bathroom. I think he was doing a bit of coke.’

‘Drugs?’ I say, horrified.

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